5") 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Mauch 1, 1867. 



Eig. 41. Speckled Podura, x 30. 



rapidly waving their antennae, and making active 

 efforts to escape whenever I opened the cell. All 

 Podurse are very attentive to personal cleanliness, 

 and their constant habit of preening themselves is 

 very curious to witness. They suddenly double 

 their antennae under the head, passing them through 

 the mouth many times, and treat every part of their 

 bodies that may be within reach in a similar manner. 



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Fig. 42. Scale of Black Podura; J objective, A eyepiece. 



The scale of this Podura is very like that supplied 

 to me as the real "test scale." The markings, 

 though clear, are much finer, and I suspect that 

 the test scales are only found on the oldest Podurse, 

 but I am open to correction. Accurate information 

 about Podurse seems at present difficult to obtain. 

 The adult insect should be selected in preference to 

 the young specimen, the tegumentary appendages 

 of which appear to me to be imperfectly developed. 

 I notice that the small ones are more iridescent 

 than the full-grown insects. 



The other species ot .Fodura which has come 

 particularly under my notice is rather larger than 

 the black species. Its colour is very light brown, 

 often speckled with black, and there is no symptom 



of iridescence. The antennas are much longer in pro- 

 portion to the body, which is liberally furnished 

 with hairs, especially near the neck, and its head is 

 not carried so low as in the case of the black kind 

 (see figure). It also inhabits a drier situation, and 

 in my experience is not nearly so often met with. 

 I only know of one place where I may calculate 

 with some certainty on finding a specimen (viz., on 



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Fig. 43. Scale of Speckled Podura; J objective, A eyepiece. 



the whitewashed door, or similarly treated wall of 

 the cellar at Brixton) ; but I have unexpectedly 

 caught stray ones in other places, chiefly indoors; 

 hence I suspect it inhabits the decayed woodwork 

 of houses. Under the microscope, this sort dis- 

 plays a speckled or banded appearance — the back 

 and sides being clothed with scales, mostly dark 

 brown or black, ai ranged in transverse rows. The 

 individual scales are exceedingly beautiful and much 

 more easily resolved than Lhe standard test scales. 

 They also possess faint transverse striae on the 

 elevated portions. Hitherto they have seldom, if 



